Tag: Pectin

Pectin was first isolated from plant material in 1825 by Henri Braconnot, a French chemist who pioneered a number of discoveries in plant and food science. People were, of course, well aware that some fruits gelled much better and faster than others, but Braconnot was the first to explain why. At the peak of the industrial revolution in the 1920s and 1930s, factories were set up specifically to extract the bonding agent. Most of the commercial variety is extracted from citrus peels or from non-marketable apples (e.g. crab apples). It is mostly manufactured in the European Union, with countries like France and Germany supplying the lion’s share of the world market.

Pectin is a semi-essential ingredient in the modern process … Read the rest